Today’s word of the day, thanks to the Word Guru, is abhor. Abhor is a verb that means “to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly” (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/abhor) or “to regard with extreme repugnance : to feel hatred or loathing for” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abhor).

M-W continues, “Abhor implies strong feelings of repugnance, disgust, and aversion. This degree of distaste is seen in the word’s history. In earlier use, abhor sometimes implied an actual shrinking away from something in horror or repugnance. Appropriately, the word’s Latin source, the verb abhorrēre, comes from the prefix ab- (‘from, away’) and the verb horrēre (‘to bristle, shiver, or shudder’). As you may have guessed, the Latin horrēre is also the source of the English words horror, horrify, and horrible” (ibid.).

Abhor entered the English language “c. 1400, ‘to loathe, regard with repugnance, dislike intensely,’ literally ‘to shrink back with horror or dread,’ from Latin abhorrere ‘shrink back from, have an aversion for, shudder at,’ from ab ‘off, away from’ (see ab-) + horrere ‘tremble at, shudder,’ literally ‘to bristle, be shaggy’ (from PIE *ghers- ‘start out, stand out, rise to a point, bristle;’ see horror).
“Formerly also ‘fill (someone) with horror or loathing’ (16c.). In Latin it was less intense: ‘be remote from, vary from, differ from, be out of harmony with’” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=abhor).

On this date in 2024, David Boaz died. Boaz was “Distinguished Senior Fellow and the former executive vice president of the Cato Institute, an American libertarian think tank” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Boaz).

David Boaz (1953-2024) was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, and went to Vanderbilt University from 1971 to 1975. He came from a political family and became an activist early on. After graduation, he worked with the Young Americans for Freedom in a variety of roles. He saw himself as a libertarian, “but saw libertarianism ‘as a brand of conservatism. But during my tenure at YAF, as I got to know people in the libertarian movement, I came to believe that conservatives and libertarians were not the same thing and it became uncomfortable for me to work in the YAF office’” (https://reason.com/2024/06/07/david-boaz-rip).

After leaving the YAF, he joined the Council for a Competitive Economy (now defunct), where he was involved with Ed Clark, who ran as a Libertarian first for the governorship of California and then for President of the USA. In 1981, he joined the Cato Institute where he stayed until his retirement in 2023 (ibid.). He was Cato’s leading editorialist and got the mainstream to take some Libertarian ideas, like drug legalization, seriously. About drug legalization, he wrote, “We can either escalate the war on drugs, which would have dire implications for civil liberties and the right to privacy, or find a way to gracefully withdraw. Withdrawal should not be viewed as an endorsement of drug use; it would simply be an acknowledgment that the cost of this war—billions of dollars, runaway crime rates and restrictions on our personal freedom—is too high” (ibid.). In recent years his message seems to be gaining traction, at least with the American people if not with their political leaders.

As writer and editor, he published several books in the last thirty years, the most significant of which was undoubtedly Libertarianism: A Primer (Free Press, 1997). The Amazon blurb says, “Now, in the 1990s, we are ready to apply the lessons of this century to make the next one the century not of the state but of the free individual. David Boaz presents the essential guidebook to the libertarian perspective, detailing its roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and future in American politics. He confronts head-on the tough questions frequently posed to libertarians: What about inequality? Who protects the environment? What ties people together if they are essentially self-interested?”

In memory of David Boaz, I thought I’d just share a few quotes, some taken from https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/96259.David_Boaz:

“It’s the exercise of power, not the exercise of freedom, that requires justification.”
― David Boaz, The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom

“Some forms of socialism and collectivism are – explicitly or implicitly – based on the notion that many people are not competent to make decisions about their own lives, so that the more talented should make decisions for them. But that would mean there were no universal human rights, only rights that some have and others do not, denying the essential humanity of those who are deemed to be owned.”
― David Boaz, The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom

“We believe that people spend their own money more prudently than they spend other people’s money. So goods and services produced in the competitive marketplace are likely to be produced more efficiently and with more regard for real consumer demand than goods produced by government, and thus we should try to keep as many aspects of life as possible outside the control of government.”
― David Boaz, The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom

“On the contemporary American left-right spectrum, libertarianism is neither left nor right. Libertarians believe in individual freedom and limited government consistently, unlike either contemporary liberals or contemporary conservatives.”
― David Boaz, Libertarianism: A Primer

And some taken from https://www.azquotes.com/author/28913-David_Boaz:

“One difference between libertarianism and socialism is that a socialist society can’t tolerate groups of people practicing freedom, but a libertarian society can comfortably allow people to choose voluntary socialism. If a group of people – even a very large group – wanted to purchase land and own it in common, they would be free to do so. The libertarian legal order would require only that no one be coerced into joining or giving up his property.”

“Conservatives want to be your daddy, telling you what to do and what not to do. Liberals want to be your mommy, feeding you, tucking you in, and wiping your nose. Libertarians want to treat you as an adult.”

“People in government are self-interested just like people in business.”

And perhaps my favorite, which you might have been able to read in Robert Fulghum’s classic All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (Ballantine, 1989), if Boaz had written it:

“Don’t hit other people, don’t take their stuff and keep your promises.”

I think we can imagine that David Boaz would abhor this year’s presidential race.

According to his partner of 30 years, Steve Miller, David Boaz died today from cancer (https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/06/07/david-boaz-libertarian-cato-dead/).  May he rest in peace.

Today’s image is of David Boaz in 2016 (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2418927/catos-david-boaz-trump-clinton-add-up-to-terrible-year-for-libertarians/#google_vignette). The caption to the picture reads, “Regardless of the election’s outcome, which David Boaz acknowledges will likely be unfavorable to his cause, he said that his agenda will remain consistent. (Graeme Jennings/Washington Examiner).”